Before you argue that perfection doesn’t exist or tell me how I’m wrong because Ronda Rousey or your favourite fighter isn’t on the card and it starts too late and will run into the wee hours of the morning on Sunday – don’t.

Don’t do it because trying to find flaws in the collection of fights that will hit the Octagon Saturday at Madison Square Garden is simply being negative and critical for the sake of being negative and critical and no one likes people who do that.

So don’t do it.

Instead, stop and look at the 12 fights scheduled to take place this weekend when the UFC holds its first event in New York City and realize that this event is everything fight fans have always asked for – and a few things they maybe didn’t know they wanted, but still really like – rolled into one.

The biggest star in the sport? Check.

A “Champion vs. Champion superfight? Check.

Two more ultra-competitive, extremely important championship bouts? Check.

Intriguing bouts carrying title implications in the deepest divisions in the sport? Check.

A bushel of established talents with proven track records and a history of delivering entertaining fights? Check.

A couple emerging talents with the chance to shine alongside some of the biggest names on the roster? Check.

Keyboard Kimura Podcast: UFC 205 Preliminary Card Preview

This is the type of fight card you would put together if you were sitting around with a couple friends, crafting fantasy lineups for fight shows over a round of soda pops and you weren’t just trying to be idiots that put every single big fight possible on the same card.

Yes, this card would be even more stacked if it had four championship fights instead of three, but four title fights on the same card is being ridiculous. Three, however, is awesome and totally happening on Saturday night and I don’t understand how people aren’t just walking down the street high-fiving one another all week because this is actually about to happen.

As much as people within the MMA community are legitimately excited about UFC 205, I have to be honest: I don’t think they’re excited enough.

Maybe I’m not feeling it because I’m here on the West Coast instead of amidst the hustle and bustle of New York City – walking up to The Garden after getting off the subway, eating terrific pizza and battling for position in scrums like I was trying to box out a dude that is three inches taller and way stronger than me for a rebound – but right now, it doesn’t feel like UFC 205 has reached the fever pitch that I expected we would be at even now, four days in advance of this thing jumping off for real.

It’s not that it feels like “just another card” – no one is saying that – but it also doesn’t feel like the ‘Holy shit – this is finally happening!’ situation I anticipated. We’re roughly 96 hours away from Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian kicking off what is hands down the best card ever put together (on paper) by the UFC and I’m not getting the same “I can’t wait” vibe that everyone was riding into UFC 200, before things started to go south and the would-be summer spectacular turned into a very good fight card that had no way of reaching the lofty expectations that had been set for it.

And maybe that’s it.

Maybe everyone is trying not to enrage the MMA gods, knowing full well that they can be a vengeful lot, quick to strike down a star fighter with a potential anti-doping violation or wreak havoc with a fighter’s weight cut from on high, altering the lineup and killing the vibe just days before an event.

Maybe losing the middleweight scrap between Tim Kennedy and Rashad Evans has made everyone hold their breath, afraid to tempt fate by vocalizing their excitement about the remaining bouts until Friday evening, after everyone has successfully weighed in, re-hydrated and made it back to their hotel rooms in one piece, where they shall remain as such until stepping on the bus and heading to the venue on Saturday.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is fighting on the goddamn prelims and he and Michael Johnson aren’t even the final televised fight; that position belongs to former lightweight champion and perennial featherweight contender Frankie Edgar, who faces “That Guy,” Jeremy Stephens, in the last bout before you have to pay to watch them.

And you should pay to watch them because former champ Miesha Tate gets things started against a surging “Rocky” Pennington, Donald Cerrone continues his unexpected run of excellence at welterweight opposite Kelvin Gastelum and hometown favourite Chris Weidman faces Yoel Romero in a bout that could determine the next title challenger in the middleweight division, all of which is followed by not one, not two, but three championship fights.

Having any two of the title tilts that close out this card stationed about these collection of non-title awesomeness would be good enough, but we’re getting strawweight bad ass Joanna Jedrzejczyk defending her title against her PG-13 doppelganger Karolina Kowalkiewiczand Tyron Woodley putting the welterweight belt on the line against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompsonand Eddie Alvarez defending the lightweight title against featherweight champ Conor McGregor in a bout that carries all kinds of historical and business implications.

Get excited people.

This card is perfect and it’s finally here.

E. Spencer Kyte covers MMA for The Province. Follow him on social media: spencerkyte.

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